1 engine and one train

[casmmr]

Atlas GP 9 with 2 Atlas C&O Cabooses (cabeese?), and 8-10 different types of cars for 1956 for one nice local freight train.

[craigolio1]

My BC Rail Pacific Star Light Dinner Train.  The loco and every car are kitbashed/custom and it's my best work.  If this apocalyptic train choice happens after Fredrick and I finish the Royal Hudson then it, along with my train of Gooderham CPR 2200 series coaches, (which are decorated for service on British Columbia Railway's Royal Hudson excursion train), will be my choice.

Craig

[mmagliaro]

Well, now that we've cleared it up that it can be a kitbash...

I don't know about the rolling stock, but the engine would always be whatever my most recent
scratchbuild/kitbash engine is.  So right now, it would be the 0-6-0.

If you had asked me 2 years ago, it would have been the NP 2-8-2 W-5, and before that, the SP&S 4-6-2.

I could never pick a single one for all time.

[chesapeake490]

This is an easy one. My C&O L1 streamlined Hudson ( kitbashed from a Con Cor Hudson and etched stainless kit) and my passenger car consist

[CBQ Fan]

Kato Silver Streak Zephyr with E5.

[Nato]

            Silver Streak Zephyr set with E-5 diesel. Nate Goodman Nato).

[thomasjmdavis]

As a sometime Santa Fe modeler circa mid 1950s, I have an out.  I want to keep a Grand Canyon train, as it left Chicago in 3 sections (it would not shock me if there were days when there were 4 sections), the third section being the tour section.  That should let me keep lots of headend, most of my M&R heavyweight projects (assuming I ever, actually, finish them), several kitbashes, my Pecos River cars, and my favorite non-ATSF sleepers (in the tour group section), plus enough PAs to pull everything.

[JMaurer1]

Being an SP fan, either a Kato GS-4 and Daylight passenger set or an Atlas SD-7 (in tigerstripes) pulling a freight train (probably pulling an assortment of my custom NWP rolling stock).

[C855B]

I was watching a Ken Patterson podcast the other day and he asked a question which I found interesting, so I will repeat it here. If you could only keep one engine and one train, what would it be? ...

I find the proposition a pointless exercise. With due respect to Mr. Patterson's artistry, to me it is indicative of a view from an HO detail modeler's perspective, where it is normal to focus on the refinement of a single model or a single representation of... something.

I'm in the hobby to recreate an ambiance of railroad operations. This means multiple trains of varied types, most with multiple locomotives, also of varied types. If the proposed circumstances were imposed, I'd hang it up and move on, that's not my interest.

[Dave V]

I’d keep the engine and run a train on you mom.

Wait, what?

[atsf3751]

I got a snarky response on the N scale Yahoo group so I thought that I would give the background for this question. What if you downsized to one of those 500 square foot micro homes and that was all the space you had for all of your living requirements, or you retired and moved permanently into an RV with the plans to tour the country. What would you do?

[MK]

Or incarcerated in solitary doing 20 to life but allowed to bring one train.... 

[jagged ben]

Loco:  my most superdetailed Santa Fe SD40-2 snoot.
Train:  1992-ish APL double-stacks.  (I can make excuses for a including the majority of my total well car fleet.   )

[johnb]

I would want a brass N Scale Baldwin steeple cab in Pacific Electric tiger stripes, pulling a mix of wooden boxcars, Hart gondolas, and a flat top caboose....

[peteski]

I got a snarky response on the N scale Yahoo group so I thought that I would give the background for this question. What if you downsized to one of those 500 square foot micro homes and that was all the space you had for all of your living requirements, or you retired and moved permanently into an RV with the plans to tour the country. What would you do?

OK. Then I would give up model trains altogether (and keep few or my brass models (in a display case).   Or maybe move to T-gauge trains. Or get into train or layout simulators. Or start collecting photos of railroad related subjects (in digital form on my computer).  To be honest I really don't know (I just made up all the above possibilities). When and if I'm ever in that situation, I'll make the decision at that time (not ponder about it now).

I find this type of "what if" questions silly and pointless.  Especially in the N/Z scale forum.  This is really a Crew Lounge material.  And despite my reputation, I'm not being snarky - I'm serious.